| |
New Zealand > Waikato
> Thames
Situated
about an hour and a half from Auckland, on the way to
the lovely Coromandel peninsula
Thames is an old
gold mining town, and was once bigger than
Auckland! It is hard to believe, I know, but back in
the gold mining days, Thames had a bright future.
Now, it is
populated by about 8000 residents, it is a good
place to retire or bring up small children. It is a
relaxed town, with a quite a few shops and a mall,
Goldfields. It has an old fashioned main street with
buildings from times gone by still standing proud.
It is very close
to a lot of excellent beaches, and is the gateway to
the Coromandel Peninsula.
Up the Kauaeranga
Valley, there are loads of walking tracks and tramps,
with a great many huts to stay in along the way. The
Pinnacles walk is one of the most beautiful and
popular, with very good tracks, and a large hut at
the top. It is a short walk from the hut to the
Pinnacles, which provide an amazing view of the
Valley.
29 November to
Sunday 8th December is the Coromandel
Pohutukawa Festival. The Pohutukawa tree is New
Zealand’s national treasure and has the amazing
red flowers, which bloom in summer. The festival
includes concerts, the Primary Schools' Choral
Festival, markets, a garden trail, sports events and
a multicultural festival.
There is the
Christmas parade, which displays a large range of
local business’s trailers and gloriously
decorated vehicles parading down the main street with
music, and market stalls down the end of town, in
Grahamstown.
The Ruapara Water
gardens are an amazing attraction, with 14 ponds in a
very peaceful and beautiful setting. This is located
about half an hour from Thames along the coast. There
is a craft shop and tearooms, for refreshing after
your bush walk to see the spectacular waterfall.
The Miranda Hot
Springs are a good way to spend a rainy day or a
winter’s day, relaxing in the hot mineral pools.
There is heaps for the kids to do, with huge tyres to
play on. There are excellent barbeque and picnic
facilities available, under shelter. There is a very
hot adults pool, which overlooks the larger
not-so-hot pool, so you can watch the kids playing,
or, turn your back and look at some paintings on the
back wall.
If you fancy a bit
of reminiscing of the old days, go for a goldmine
tour in these authentic mines. There is the huge
stamper battery, so you can see how it used to be
when gold mining was a very popular occupation. You
can go through a myriad of tunnels and see how
conditions were back then.
Then there is the
Butterfly and Orchid garden. This garden is
beautiful, filled with gorgeous orchids and lilies, a
waterfall and many butterflies to flutter around,
they might even land on your shoulder! There is a
cafe and gift shop as well.
Thames is a great
place to visit, for a day trip, or while travelling
further on up the Coromandel Peninsula. There is an
information centre located on the main street, for
more things to do in Thames!
|
|
|
|
